Ultrasonic antifouling devices negatively impact Cuvier's beaked whales near Guadalupe Island, México.

Widespread use of unregulated acoustic technologies in maritime industries raises concerns about effects on acoustically sensitive marine fauna worldwide. Anthropogenic noise can disrupt behavior and may cause short- to long-term disturbance with possible population-level consequences, particularly for animals with a limited geographic range. Ultrasonic antifouling devices are commercially available, installed globally on a variety of vessel types, and are marketed as an environmentally-friendly method for biofouling control. Here we show that they can be an acoustic disturbance to marine wildlife, as seasonal operation of these hull-mounted systems by tourist vessels in the marine protected area of Guadalupe Island, México resulted in the reduced presence of a potentially resident population of Cuvier's beaked whales (Ziphius cavirostris). Human activities are rapidly altering soundscapes on local and global scales, and these findings highlight the need to identify key noise sources and assess their impacts on marine life to effectively manage oceanic ecosystems.

Effect of Root Colonization by Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi on Growth, Productivity and Blast Resistance in Rice.

BACKGROUND: Arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi form symbiotic associations with roots in most land plants. AM symbiosis provides benefits to host plants by improving nutrition and fitness. AM symbiosis has also been associated with increased resistance to pathogen infection in several plant species. In rice, the effects of AM symbiosis is less studied, probably because rice is mostly cultivated in wetland areas, and plants in such ecosystems have traditionally been considered as non-mycorrhizal. In this study, we investigated the effect of AM inoculation on performance of elite rice cultivars (Oryza sativa, japonica subspecies) under greenhouse and field conditions, focusing on growth, resistance to the rice blast fungus Magnaporthe oryzae and productivity. RESULTS: The response to inoculation with either Funneliformis mosseae or Rhizophagus irregularis was evaluated in a panel of 12 rice cultivars. Root colonization was confirmed in all rice varieties. Under controlled greenhouse conditions, R. irregularis showed higher levels of root colonization than F. mosseae. Compared to non-inoculated plants, the AM-inoculated plants had higher Pi content in leaves. Varietal differences were observed in the growth response of rice cultivars to inoculation with an AM fungus, which were also dependent on the identity of the fungus. Thus, positive, negligible, and negative responses to AM inoculation were observed among rice varieties. Inoculation with F. mosseae or R. irregularis also conferred protection to the rice blast fungus, but the level of mycorrhiza-induced blast resistance varied among host genotypes. Rice seedlings (Loto and Gines varieties) were pre-inoculated with R. irregularis, transplanted into flooded fields, and grown until maturity. A significant increase in grain yield was observed in mycorrhizal plants compared with non-mycorrhizal plants, which was related to an increase in the number of panicles. CONCLUSION: Results here presented support that rice plants benefit from the AM symbiosis while illustrating the potential of using AM fungi to improve productivity and blast resistance in cultivated rice. Differences observed in the mycorrhizal responsiveness among the different rice cultivars in terms of growth promotion and blast resistance indicate that evaluation of benefits received by the AM symbiosis needs to be carefully evaluated on a case-by-case basis for efficient exploitation of AM fungi in rice cultivation.

Physiological Basis and Transcriptional Profiling of Three Salt-Tolerant Mutant Lines of Rice.

Salinity is a complex trait that affects growth and productivity in many crops, including rice. Mutation induction, a useful tool to generate salt tolerant plants, enables the analysis of plants with similar genetic background, facilitating the understanding of the salt tolerance mechanisms. In this work, we generated three salt tolerant mutant lines by irradiation of a salt-sensitive cultivar plants and screened M2 plants at seedling stage in the presence of high salinity. These three lines, SaT20, SaS62, and SaT58, showed different responses to salinity, but exhibited similar phenotype to wild type plants, except SaT20 that displayed shorter height when grown in the absence of salt. Under salt conditions, all three mutants and the parental line showed similar reduction in yield, although relevant differences in other physiological parameters, such as Na+ accumulation in healthy leaves of SaT20, were registered. Microarray analyses of gene expression profiles in roots revealed the occurrence of common and specific responses in the mutants. The three mutants showed up-regulation of responsive genes, the activation of oxido-reduction process and the inhibition of ion transport. The participation of jasmonate in the plant response to salt was evident by down-regulation of a gene coding for a jasmonate O-methyltransferase. Genes dealing with lipid transport and metabolism were, in general, up-regulated except in SaS62, that also exhibited down-regulation of genes involved in ion transport and Ca2+ signal transduction. The two most tolerant varieties, SaS62 and SaT20, displayed lower levels of transcripts involved in K+ uptake. The physiological study and the description of the expression analysis evidenced that the three lines showed different responses to salt: SaT20 showed a high Na+ content in leaves, SaS62 presented an inhibition of lipid metabolism and ion transport and SaT58 differs in both features in the response to salinity. The analysis of these salt tolerant mutants illustrates the complexity of this trait evidencing the breadth of the plant responses to salinity including simultaneous cooperation of alternative or complementary mechanisms.

Glycosylation of liver acute-phase proteins in pancreatic cancer and chronic pancreatitis.

PURPOSE: Glycosylation of acute-phase proteins (APP), which is partially regulated by cytokines, may be distinct in disease and provide useful tumour markers. Thus, we have examined the glycosylation of major serum APP in pancreatic cancer (PaC), chronic pancreatitis (CP) and control patients. EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN: Using a specific anti-sialyl Lewis X antibody and N-glycan sequencing, we have determined glycosylation changes on α-1-acid glycoprotein (AGP), haptoglobin (HPT), fetuin (FET), α-1-antitrypsin (AT) and transferrin (TRF). RESULTS: Increased levels of sialyl Lewis X (SLe(x) ) were detected on AGP in advanced PaC and CP and on HPT, FET, AT and TRF in CP. An increase in N-glycan branching was detected on AGP and HPT in the advanced stage of PaC and CP and on FET and TRF in the CP. A core fucosylated structure was increased on AGP and HPT only in the advanced PaC patients. CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL RELEVANCE: Changes in APP SLe(x) and branching are probably associated with an inflammatory response because they were detected in both advanced PaC and CP patients and these conditions give rise to inflammation. On the contrary, the increase in APP core fucosylation could be cancer associated and the presence of this glycoform may give an advantage to the tumour.